CBO Estimates Health Insurance Exchange Will Leave 37 Million Uninsured - 6/16/09

In a report issued on Monday afternoon, the Congressional Budget Office announced that the health insurance exchange being proposed by the Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) will leave approximately 37 million people uninsured in 2019. The report indicates that the HELP Committee's preliminary bill will result in a net reduction in the number of uninsured individuals by 17 million over the next ten years, leaving more than twice that number uninsured. The estimated cost of the proposal exceeds $1 trillion. CBO's estimates do not take into account an expansion of the Medicaid program; such an expansion falls under the Finance Committee's jurisdiction. The Finance Committee is expected to release its mark on Friday.

The CBO report comes just two days after the Administration proposed cutting Medicare and Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) funding by more than $100 billion over the next ten years, arguing that "as health reform phases in, the number of uninsured will go down, and we would be able to reduce payments to hospitals for treating those previously uncovered." NAPH believes that CBO's report indicates the danger in using DSH funding to help pay for health care reform. In a story about the costs of health care reform, the New York Times quotes Robert Reischauer, a former CBO Director, saying "if so many people remained uninsured, it might not be feasible to cut special federal payments to hospitals that serve many low-income people."